The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-08-11
HIS 10000 SPECIMENS.
THE GREATEST ENToMoLoGIsT IN
THE WHOLE COUNTRY.

and LepidopteraI Curiosities without
End-A Butterfly with "ss" on It's
Wings-The Dead Leaf.
The most eminent authority on butter
| flies and moths in America is Herman
Strecker, Phi. D., of Reading, Pa. He is
the one man who has made this place
familiar to scientists in every known quar-
ter OF the globe. He inherited his fond
ness for scientific studies, and evinced
this inclination at a very early age. The
great repository of this lepidopteral col
lection is in a fine three-story brick man.
sion, with skylights, and built in the
shady suburbs of the city. Up two flights
Of stairs and we have entered into room
where the largest and rarest collection of
butterflies in America is deposited-over
seventy thousand different specimens.
Here our distinguished entomologist is
happy. 1t is night, and the shutters are
! thrown wide open; during the day they
are barred, for sunlight soon affects the
luster of his treasures.
On the north side of the wall pine case
| is placed, looking much like the arrange
ments of large post Office. We are told
| that that is the filed correspondence of all
the distinguished scientists of entomology
| cal fame in this and foreign countries,
covering thirty years. The world is laid
under tribute by this man of artistic ge-
MUS and scientific research to gain the
| newest and best information of butterflies
| and moths in every corner of the globe.
FORTY YEARS OF LABOR.
This collection of insects was forty years
| in gathering, and in the work more than
twenty thousand dollars have been ex-
pended. Some of the specimens cost 500,
| several $50 and $50, and scores Of them
! SIS and $40. There is no private or puklic
| collection in all this western hemisphere
| that can equal it. The London museum
has a somewhat larger collection, but in
order and rarity of arranged specimens
i, this private collection would not be ex-
changed for two of England's kind, and
| for none in the entire world. If fire should
sweep it up, something in America would
| have been destroyed that no century could
| replace. The butterflies might be had
if the entomOlogist should just happen to
| be born and be also endowed with perse-
verance and blessed with capital for the
task.
| There is no country, no climate, no al
| titude, no solitude that has not been pene-
trated for the odd and beautiful specimens
] of butterflies here gathered Some are as
tiny as mosquito, and others as large as
q .half fiedged pigeon. The owl moth of
| Brazil measures q foot across the wings.
Where do they come from, these many
different little creatures? When the
second Ross expedition was made in search
of a northwest passage in 1929 new
species Of colias, afterwards called boot
hi, was found in a few specimens, the
only ones known to this day, one of which
came later into possession of Strecker's
collection. 1t is the only sample Of the
| species in America. Three of the great
| papilio antimachus, from equatorial
Africa, can be seen here. Only about
croesus and lydius from Halmeheira the
curious Parnassus butterflies from $4,000
!: feet elevation in the Himalayas and other
! mountains; the enormous cossus from
Australia, which arc eaten by the natives;
| the gcNceous rhaipheus flies from NADIA
! gascar without a rival in matchless colors.
|. Then come monster curiosities, half male
and half female; those of one wing, partly
of one sex and partly of another sex; al
binos, hybrids, melanOs and extra winged
and other freaks. Indians, Esquimaux,
| explorers, travellers and missionaries
have all helped to this wonderful collec-
/ ton of butterflies.
MANY CURIOUS SPECIMENS.
/! Among tho curious specimens may be
mentioned the "bee MOTH" SO named from
| It's exact resemblance to the bee or wasp.
He is very counterfeit Of the honey
| making insect. What a freak is the
{ Oiketicus pair! The female has no wings,
! no legs, never sees light nor takes food:
! UNbo N sroafh Ia rl1pn
| Then look at the eccentric resemblance Of
f. the "anchor MOTH On the creamy buff
color black anchor is marked, like tat
tooed arm with the tar symbol. Here also
| Is q resident of the Amazon river forests,
| known to the natives as "eighty- eights,"
because of the figures SO marked on the
| silvery white ground of the under side Of
it's hind wings. Then there is the curious
moth from Sierra Leone, in West Africa,
known as the ARGUS moth.' 1t is re-
| markable for the unparalleled length of
| the tails of the hind wings in the male,
Then there is the world famed Hdead leaf
| butterfly Of China, india and the Pacific
| islands. When the wings are open it has
q surface of grayish blue crossed by IN
| orange band, but when closed, as the
animal is at rest, the resemblance r., n
dead leaf is perfect. The 1..y butterflies
number 5000 Species; the night flies are
ten times as many.
10 attempt a description of the bewil-
dering effect as case after case is drawn
out from its hiding and samples of the TO-
| 900 specimens arc displayed under the gas
light is simply futile. The endless variety
of their forms, the gorgeousness of their
harmonious dress, have no equal among
any living thing of the domain of nature.
| What is pretty in emerald or sapphire,
| what is brilliant in diamond or ruby, what
| is rich in plume of bird or leaf of flower,
| what is glorious in rainbow or sunset-an
| can be found in this array Of insect Gre
| alton dazzling, glistening, gayly disport-
| ing under the flash of light.
| The process of preserving them is also
| an art, and somewhat tedious task.
| They are sent from distant entomologists
| in labeled paper wraps, secured in boxes.
| They are in no shape; they must be put
| into wooden press of particular design,
| must be poised on pins and rendered plia-
| able in moist sand jar and then be ar
| ranged with mathematical precision in
/! their respective cases. Exchanges are
! made by the lepidopterists the world over,
| which go the rounds, and specimens of
| insects are given and taken as the collec-
| tions may lack kinds. Cocoons even are
| received from distant lands and are nursed
| into life year afterwards. Reading Pa)
Cor. New York World.
The Only Honest Way.